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20p More gets you a decent brand named version.

I have a range of peppers in my home from fine ground through to some very expensive ones for cooking with but my wife likes the simple fine ground black pepper for using as you would salt, (ie) adding it to your food.

My wife uses it on soup and salads mainly and doesn't usually mind which version of it we buy but that changed when we tried Tesco value ground black pepper.

I never use fine ground black pepper because it is in my opinion to ground down and appears to have very little to it and this is even more evident in the Tesco value one, it looks more like ash or dust than something you would want on your food.

The usual black pepper taste is all but gone too; this has more of a sort of dry musty burnt taste to it that a black peppercorn taste and it is certainly not something I or my wife would ever use again.

This might be a bit cheaper than the regular ground fine peppers but if you must buy fine ground peppers at all then buy a brand named one for only about 20p more and you will be glad you did.

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Ditch your expensive ground pepper and get some of this!

Initially I was suspicious, I have to say. A meagre 18 pence for Britain's most popular condiment (after salt, ketchup and worcestershire sauce of course!) seems a steal. And having just completed my first meal which was heavily peppered with the stuff, I can say - WOW! It is delicious. Hotter than a jaunt through Madagascar in a Sam Allardyce foam suit, the aroma which leaves the pot makes one salivate at the thought of tucking into a tasty peppertime treat. My only disappointment was with the packaging. Whilst I expected it to maintain the 'Tesco Value' motif, I was disheartned by the sight of a mound of pepper which seemingly stretches as far as the eye can see. I do not think there was quite this much pepper in the pot, but at 18p, it is not expensive to buy a whole load of it and create your own peppermound in your living room, should you choose! A ground seasoning that Tesco can be rightly proud of!

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PEPPER FOR PENNIES

The Tesco value pepper is a product I had tried recently and this is my review.

I have been trying out some of the items in the Tesco value range to see if they are any good and I think some of them are rubbish but some of them I would definitely buy again.

I use pepper in a lot of cooking and preparing meals. I also like it on some of my meals to. I usually use ground pepper but when I saw this in my local Tesco supermarket I thought I would buy it to give it a try out as I use pepper a lot.

The packaging is very basic and this is the case with all of the products in the Tesco value range. This is because it is a 'no frills' range and you are not paying for nice looking packaging. The Tesco value pepper comes in a little plastic pot which is white in colour. There is a white label on the front to the little tub and this has the name of the product on and the usual Tesco value logo and wording which is all in red and blue.

When I went to open the pepper pot I thought it was a bit fiddly because of the way the pot had a sticky label covering the little holes on the top of the pot. Once I got this off though I thought the pepper came out the holes in the pot just fine and this let me garnish my food and season my cooking.

The pepper tastes nice and it gives a kick to my food. I did not like it as much as my ground pepper that I usually use but I did not expect to as there is such a difference in price. The Tesco value pepper does not look that attractive either but again this does not really bother me and I am more worried about the taste than how it looks.

The taste is like other pepper and can be quite hot if you use to much of it. I like this though so it does not bother me at all.

I would buy the Tesco value pepper again as I liked the taste and thought for the money it was a good buy. It only cost me about 20 pence or so for the little tub and this has a lot of uses in it as it is a good little size.

I would suggest giving it a try and think it is a good product for the money. It is not the nicest pepper I have ever eaten but it is the cheapest. I think it is worth a try and will buy it again.

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A decent way of saving money

Tesco Value Ground Black Pepper

The Tesco Value range is an excellent way to save money. Basically, Tesco offer savings to their customers by spending less on packaging. Because the packaging is cheap and no frills, it means that we are not paying extra for something that simply gets thrown in the bin anyway.

I use to bypass these ranges because I mistakenly believed that it would be cheap and nasty. In actual fact, I have found that most of the products are surprisingly good and the quality is a lot better than I had previously expected. Not to mention how happy I have been with some of the prices!

A 25g pot of this pepper cost me just £0.18. It comes in a plain white plastic tub with a white label and red and blue writing.

I am not a huge fan of ready ground pepper, I much prefer to freshly grind it so that it retains as much pungency and hotness as possible. Having said that, it isn't always convenient to carry around a pepper grinder, and I quite often find myself eating on the run, so I like to keep a pot of this is the car.

As far as ground pepper goes, this seems exactly the same as any other brand that I have tried, except cheaper. It is definitely a decent way of saving money and I personally would not be prepared to pay more, now that I know I can buy it this cheaply.

If you are looking for ground pepper then this is definitely worth buying, unless of course you are a pepper snob, in which case, give this a miss and grind your own for the ultimate freshness!

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.

I never used Pepper, but my Husband uses Pepper on Chicken and Chips. He tends to lager it on, and I always end up sneezing because of it. I did use this the other week, as I wanted to liven my Chips up a bit and have to say this was alright.

This costs a bargain 18p for a 25g tub. This is part of the Tesco Value range, which is the cheapest range in Tesco. The brand named Pepper for roughly the same size is about 3 times the price of this one, but that isn't too expensive either.

The tub isn't that exciting. This is a white plastic tub with a white sticky label going around the tub. It has the blue and red colouring tat is on the Value range of products.

The Pepper comes out the holes on the top of the tub. These holes are covered by a sticker, which peels off alright, and the holes are large enough to give you a decent amount of Pepper out without covering it with it all coming out.

This Pepper is pretty fine, a dusty brown colour and has a nice spice to it. We always have this in the cupboard, as it is just as nice as any other Pepper out there and a great price as well.

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Even at 18p I won't recommend this, buy the next brand up for about 40p instead!

I always use peppercorns and have done for years, so when a recent recipe called for ground black pepper I flailed around the supermarket shelves for a while before deciding that one ground pepper is very much like another. So at 18p I went for the Tesco Value brand, which turned out to be a big mistake as it's absolutely appalling.

As soon as I opened the small tub I realised this was going to be bad as the smell that came out was not the rich pepper aroma I have come to expect, but a bland yet somehow very harsh smell.

I measured out the pepper I needed for my recipe and decided it looked sort of alright, no more than that though as the appearance is rather dustier than I remember ground pepper being when I used to use it. Little specks floated away as I shook the tub to get my measurements correct and the look of it actually put me in mind of the very odd occasion when I would empty my late husband's ashtray, you know when you're not a smoker and haven't quite gotten the hang of disposing of a load of ash into the bin without creating a small cloud of grey/black ash. This is what this pepper reminded me of.

Well, to be honest there was so little pepper required for my recipe that the outcome couldn't really be decided so when I had my dinner tonight I used this instead of my beloved fresh pepper.

Absolutely awful. This pepper has a really strange flavour, it causes a small rush of dry heat on my tongue but this doesn't have much of a flavour of pepper at all. The smell of it rising in the steam from my dinner made me cough even though I had only used a little bit and I swear I could still see the little ashy flecks in the air around me.

I've binned it. It was that bad that I honestly didn't want it in the cupboard with the rest of my food for fear of the 'cloud' tainting other items, I've never eaten pepper this bad before. How can Tesco go so wrong with such a staple product? The fact that pepper can be made bland AND hot at the same time is just ridiculous and it makes me wonder how many different floors this little lot has been swept from!

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It's a great and cheap alternative you just need to use a bit more to compensate for the taste

When cooking I enjoy using a wide variety of spices and herbs, one of my favourites is pepper. Because by simply adding them, you can add spice and more taste to any dish that is dull in the first place.

I have always used pepper balls and the only reason for doing so, was because I had received a rather nice and classy automated pepper mill, after using it for several months, the novelty did eventually wear off, although I still use it occasionally to get a "kick" out of it?

I was searching for ground black pepper because I wanted to find the differences in taste between the two. Furthermore, I wanted to have a variation of pepper which would give me more choice when it comes to using pepper.

The pepper itself comes in a rather basic and plain packaging with the Tesco colour scheme of red and blue, and it also has the Tesco Value label attached to it, which may put some people off from buying it.

Upon opening the packaging I could smell that it is quite bland unlike some which are really spicy and bland. The colour of the pepper is quite good, with a medium brown colour that is the type of colour you would expect.

The taste of the pepper itself is not strong, therefore if you enjoy your food spicy you might need to purchase a stronger alternative or just consume more of the Tesco Value Ground Black Pepper.

One of the issue that does come to mind is the way the pepper is used through the holes which are covered by a label that sticks onto the packaging, it can be removed partially. However if you get pepper on it, the sticker loses its ability to stick well which then presents a problem.

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Worth having, if you're not a big fan of the stuff.

At 18p for a 25g pot, you wont find black pepper much cheaper than this. Nonetheless, it is a little bit too fine to be used as anything other than a seasoning for soups, rice and boiled meals. If you're looking for something stronger, you're better off buying a grinder. You can find a decent one on the same aisles in Tesco, already full of black peppercorns for around two pounds fifty. They are however much cheaper in many pound shops and specifically, "Home Bargains." (Around 89p for the same volume and functionality of grinder.)

This product is worth getting if you only use black pepper very occasionally. If this is the case, a 25g pot will last a long time. However, if like me you have it with everything, get a grinder. You will find the latter is far stronger, and looks more aesthetically pleasing when sprinkled on crackers, pizza, chips or chicken breast. Not to mention the fact that, like most Tesco value products, this pot just looks a little bit cheap!

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The worst value item I have ever tried!

You would imagine, that purchasing Value ground black pepper, wouldn't be much different from purchasing any other black pepper. Other than the price of course. I mean how different can pepper taste?

The modestly packaged and value range branded 25g tub costs a mere 18 pence (at time of writing), which is stunningly cheap.

At the moment for various reasons (as many others are) I am in money saving mode, I am Scrooge personified, I am practically living out of dustbins well not quite, but I am looking out for bargains, which means out of our shopping basket have gone all the premium brands, and in have come all the own brand, and value ranges. The savings to be had by doing this are huge, we should have done this ages ago.

So when I saw the price, for what is in effect only a condiment, it was a complete no-brainer purchase.

However, as many a shrewd shopper will tell you, the money saving game is a risky business when it comes to value brands, and sometimes when things seem to good to be true, they are!

In this partiuclar instance, Tesco Value ground black pepper, costs 72p/100g at time of writing, compared to Tesco's normal range ground black pepper costing £1.41/100g. Now I wonder why it costs less than half the price.Hmmmmmmm...

Well if you ever like me, make the mistake of purchasing this product you will learn why.

Basically and without waffling, this can only be described as DUST!

Yep I am convinced the contents of all the vacuums and hoovers in Tescos posh Cheshunt Head Quarters have all been emptied into containers and sold onto us, as unsuspecting consumers under the guise of being ground black pepper. No really, its the only explanation I can think off.

Other than that, I can not fathom how something as spicy and pungent as black pepper has been turned into an inert powder, tasting of not really much at all. I haven't tried this, but im pretty sure this won't even keep the cats out of the flower beds.

It is safe to say, this found its way into the bin quick sharp. I now only purchase black pepper corns, and grind them, its the only way of knowing what your actually sprinkling into your cooking is actually pepper, and not who knows what.

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I buy a lot of value.economy brands. I used to do a periodic Aldi or Lidl shop to stock on all the cheapo staples, as I think that their products offer overall a slightly better quality for a price comparable and sometimes lower than the value brands of major supermarkets, but now I either shop online or drive to the Tesco store convenient for other activities and thus rarely bother with the deep discounters.

Value lines are often similar if not identical to standard own-brand products and to many branded ones too, especially for basis staples. Sometimes they are not, though. Washing powder is a clear example of a product where not only value but even standard own brands are noticeably worse. And so is this black pepper.

Firstly, buying pepper ready-ground is a bad, bad, bad idea. It is usually milled to a horrible, very fine, flour-like grain and the Tesco Value one seems finer than most: like pouring ash onto your food.

Secondly, ready-ground pepper loses its flavour and pungency very quickly and instead gains unpleasant mustiness: it's not always noticeable, but in all instances I did buy this product (for camping, or when I had no pepper mill), I could detect it.

Thirdly, the packaging has a lot of big holes and it takes quite a bit of care not to dispense too much: it can't be put on the table for children to use for example, as they would invariably pour out too much.

Yes, it's extremely cheap (around 20p for 25g) but black pepper constitutes such a small proportion of the food spend that this saving just doesn't seem worth it.

The alternatives include Tesco's own coarse ground black pepper at £1.58 for 50g - much better option as it's not milled to ash adn thus gets less musty.

But the best option is to buy whole peppercorns, a proper pepper mill and freshly grind your pepper as needed. Large packets of peppercorns can be had from ethnic brands (TRS, Rajah) for a price hardly different from the Tesco Value brand, and sometimes cheaper, will last for ages, are much more versatile (can be used whole for cooking, ground finely or coarsely) and taste of pepper rather than musty ash.

False economy, here.

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try it

Packaging

Tesco value ground black pepper comes in a plastic 25g pot, surrounded by a white sticker label, also on the top to cover the pre made small holes, this is to be peeled back to use the pepper. The label is mainly white, with the writing and design in red and blue. On the front of the label is the Tesco value logo, the product name and weight. On the back contains allergy advice, storage details, a note to show it's suitability for vegetarians, bar code and Tesco contact details.

Product

If you open the product you get an instant strong smell of the pepper. The pot is only filled 2/3 of the container. The pepper is finely ground, but this helps control the quantity of pepper you use so you don't over season you food. The pepper is a medley of black, brown, sand and cream coloured flecks. It gives flavour to your food, and can be used to give spice in larger quantities, it is a store cupboard essential. Unlike some value products there is no difference in taste compared to premium brands.

There is no nutritional information on the packaging, but warns that it may contain traces of sesame seeds and nuts, because the factory that makes the black pepper handles these ingredients. This is suitable for vegetarians.

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great priced black pepper

We tend to use a lot of black pepper in our family so it's a 'must have' in the cupboard.

I like to use it in cooking eg. in sauces, curries, soups & stews plus we all like it sprinkled on food such as chips , meat & eggs as it seems to bring out the flavour & add a bit more interest to bland dishes.

I particularly like a lot of black pepper on cottage cheese or stuffed tomatoes because it makes healthy diet foods more attractive. I've been known to sneak some of the lovely stuff in my bag when we've gone on holiday 'just in case...'.

There is nothing to beat the taste of freshly ground black pepper but we usually just can't be bothered & I usually buy Swartz (or similar) from the local supermarket where it can be found with the spices & herbs. It costs around £1.25 per pack (in a box) for 50g.

When I was shopping on Tesco.com last week I saw that they do a Value black pepper & I thought we'd give it a try - 18p for 25g!!

The container is the standard value one, pretty awful to be honest if you are a snob, so I decanted into my pepper pot before trying it out.

Verdict? - really nice - I honestly couldn't tell the difference between this cheapie & the top quality pepper.

It has a bit of a pungent aroma & it has a spicy, but not too spicy a flavour.

It's well-ground but not too fine so it sprinkles well & the taste is just as good as other makes.

I used it to make my latest batch of soup & I didn't need to add any more so I think the strength is just the same as Swartz etc?

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Far better quantity AND quality.

I quickly read the review about Tesco's black pepper and soon realised that the review I was preparing to write covered this item as well. Firstly do you think you should pay these silly prices for a miniscule amount, didn't think so, nor do I and because I make my own curries rather than phoning local take-aways I decided to try and do something about it. I began to visit the local asian supermarkets. Wow !! You wouldn't believe the amounts and prices, here below is a short list of the some of the spices needed to make your own Tandoori paste, I've left out the colourings but they are also available from the same source. What I've done is list the item by name and underneath I've put the stores name, move across to the weights and prices as comparisons. I hope it turns out right. Here goes.CORIANDER POWDER. Asian. 300g. 99p. Sainsbury's. 24g. £1.22p.

CUMIN POWDER. Asian. 400g. £1.59p. Sainsbury's. 28g. £1.30p.

GARLIC POWDER. Asian. 400g. 79p. Sainsbury's. 47g. £1.43p.

PAPRIKA. Asian. 400g. £1.59p. Sainsbury's. 34g. £1.43p.

CHILLI POWDER. Asian 400g. £1.29p. Sainsbury's. 38g. £1.27p.

DRIED MINT. Asian. 33g. .89p. Sainsbury's. 12g. .78p.

TURMERIC/HALDI POWDER. Asian. 400g. .79p. Sainsbury's. 31g. £1.18p.

Turmeric powder may be used as a colouring rather than buying one special, I often use it to colour my boiled rice. Be warned it is very strong. Use about 1/4 (quarter) level teaspoon for one portion of rice (about 4 tablespoons). For those who prefer to use freshly ground pepper these places are a gold mine. I would say that the prices more than compensate for having to perhaps travel around until you find your local Asian store/supermarket. For those of you who might find those weights are a bit much it is possible to buy smaller packets (about 100g). It is also possible to buy heavier weights. A couple of points before I finish, it is also possible to purchase cooking oils in larger amounts than your normal supermarkets and for those from eastern Europe, you may find some your native foodstuffs in these stores aswell. I have given Sainsbury's prices because they are my local/corner shop, I live less than three minutes from my local store.

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Buy this, then put it in another container... immediately

I first discovered this great value product when shopping online - pepper is normally really quite expensive! Value sweeps the awards for economic pepper - 19p for 25g!! I had previously turned to buying pepper from the foreign aisles in large Tesco stores as I refused to pay £1.50 for 33g of Schwartz black pepper, and even £1.20 for 50g of Tesco regular black pepper. This is GREAT! Finally, I can pour excessive amounts of pepper on my meals =) Yaay.

There isnt a huge amount one can write about pepper, but one of the things that can be said is ground pepper never tastes as good as freshly ground pepper, it has less flavour. Unfortunately Tesco do not do a Value pack of peppercorns, that I know of.

Normally I don't like to go on about packaging that much. However, in this case I feel it necessary to declare the packaging is hideous. This is definitely not something to leave on your table, or even in the cupboard. I recommend pouring it into something else and quickly disposing of the oh so garish packaging. Once this has been achieved, you are free to enjoy quality pepper at a lovely low price - and no one will be any wiser ;)